“Our township website now provides factual information about the benefits and built-in safeguards to help our residents make an accurate and well-informed decision,” Lankey said. “This agreement was carefully negotiated after a competitive, open process. Our top priorities were to ensure that water and sewer rates remain stable and that the township retains ownership of its water and sewer systems. The proposed agreement fulfills those priorities. It is a victory for Edison.

“It includes $851 million worth of investments in Edison with nearly a half-billion dollars in capital improvements that will modernize and repair our aging infrastructure, and it maintains the senior citizen rate freeze for sewer and impacted water customers,” the mayor continued. “I look forward to a respectful and thoughtful discussion on the issues related to this decision in the future.”

Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey gives the state of the township address at The Pines Manor.(Photo: Ed Pagliarini/Correspondent)

The hearing will take place at 6 p.m. in Middlesex County College's Center for the Performing Arts, 2600 Woodbridge Ave.

The township is willing to schedule additional public hearings if it feels they are necessary to reach more residents, Lankey said.

“Depending on the March 28 turnout, one or two more public hearings/information sessions may be scheduled to ensure anyone who is interested gets the most accurate info and has an opportunity to be heard,” he said.

The proposed 40-year Water and Wastewater Concession Agreement is on file with the township clerk and can be inspected 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at the Township Municipal Building, 100 Municipal Blvd.

In his letter to residents, Lankey said the deal was two years in the making. It must be approved by the township council and three state regulatory agencies: Board of Public Utilities and departments of Environmental Protection, and Community Affairs. The date for the council to hear the proposal has not yet been decided, authorities said.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Suez will pay the township concession fees of about $366 million. That includes an immediate $105 million fee, plus an estimated annual concession fee of $4.25 million, which, after 20 years, will be increased annually to reflect cumulative Consumer Price Index increases.

Suez will invest $500 million in the infrastructure of the township’s water and wastewater systems, according to the agreement. This includes estimated residential rate increases of a 4.9 percent adjustment per year in the first 10 years, a 4.5 percent annual adjustment in years 11 through 25, and a 3.5 percent annual adjustment for the final 15 years of the deal.

In his letter, Lankey said, “Our township’s water and sewer infrastructure systems are at an important crossroads (that) provides an exceptional opportunity to create a sustainable, long-term solution to address current and future infrastructure needs. Edison’s water and sewer systems are vital assets. It is important to maintain ownership of these assets while achieving the infrastructure modernization we need … Residents must be protected from large and unpredictable rate increases.”

All residents will be impacted by the sewer portion of the deal, Lankey said. However, the water portion only will impact South Edison, whose 22-year deal with New Jersey American Water is coming to an end. North Edison will continue to be served by Middlesex Water, as well as American Water.

The New Brunswick office of Food & Water Watch held two information sessions earlier this month detailing concerns residents in Hudson and Bergen counties have had with Suez’s service and rates. Those concerns are detailed at nosuez.com/.

Food & Water Watch organizer Junior Romero said, “There has been a lack of transparency about this deal, and even now there are still more questions than answers. We don’t know, for example, if there will be additional ‘surcharges’ on top of the announced rate cap. And we don’t know the financial structure of the deal, which is absolutely critical.

“Residents have reasonable questions about the short and long-term impacts this proposal will have on their community. Private equity firms enter these deals to make a quick profit, leaving municipalities and ratepayers to clean up the mess and pay the bills. Edison should move carefully and cautiously, and give residents full access to the terms of this concession agreement, not just a fact sheet from a corporation.”

Keith Hahn, a township police officer and recent mayoral candidate who helped organize the meetings, added, "The $105 million upfront concession is really a high interest loan from the private equity firm KKR at somewhere around 10 percent. If Mayor Lankey was to obtain a municipal bond for that same $105 million, the rate would be somewhere around 3 percent. That extra 7 percent would do a lot more for the kids, students and residents of this town than it would for the executives at KKR.”

Hahn said that councilmen Leonard Sendelsky and Michael Lombardi recently lost the support of the township Democratic Party for supporting the water/sewer deal.

“I can’t see how they could in good conscious vote for an $812 million deal knowing they will not be on the council in January,” he said. “At some point, you have to put the people first.”

Lankey responded, "To call any of the concession fees that were carefully negotiated as a component of this partnership 'a loan' is irresponsible and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the process and the agreement. This rhetoric sounds more like a slick talking point from politically motivated, out-of-town special interests rather than those that wish to have a thoughtful discussion about the future of Edison. The upfront payment is just one component of this carefully negotiated, complex agreement that will allow for Edison sewer and water systems to receive critical investments while financially benefiting all Edison residents and keeping rates stable for the long term."